In what is probably her most politically effective probe yet, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, has given President Cyril Ramaphosa until Friday next week to answer charges that the discredited Bosasa company donated R500,000 to his internal party election campaign.

He delivers his State of the Nation address the day before and last month backtracked on his denial, saying instead that he had no knowledge of it and it would be returned. Given Mkhwebane’s previous bumbling of probes, if Ramaphosa is being a stranger to the truth, she’ll probably be hard put to prove it.